u/solo13508

Apparently Xiri and Thylefire Squadron were infamous enough that Wedge gave them a nod in "his" (the irl author is Chris Kempshall) book on piloting. Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire was chock full of references to several branches of Star Wars lore and even very early into Star Pilots I've already caught nods to the High Republic, Alphabet Squadron, Rebels, and a few other novels.

Really loved this short little scene as I think it speaks volumes about Kylo's current mental state.

This is at a point where Kylo has gotten everything he's thought he ever wanted. Snoke is dead. He's finally made some sort of peace with his conflicts around his status as Darth Vader's heir and his own past. The First Order is finally becoming the efficient tool he's envisioned for himself with Pryde installed as his "loyal" Allegiant General to handle most of the military side of things.

All of that and yet he's still alone. Throughout Legacy of Vader and Fall of Kylo Ren despite all of his supposed accomplishments the only time he really displays any semblance of joy is when he flashes back to his and Rey's fight with the Praetorians. When he finally found someone who he thought understood him and believed, if only briefly, that they could become something new together. Victory feels oh so hollow when there's no one to share it with.

TLDR: Great character work and world-buiding. Only very minor critiques all things considered. Solid 8/10.

Shamefully as possibly one of Charles Soule's biggest fans I have only just now gotten around to finally reading Poe Dameron with the release of the new omnibus. I always liked Poe's character in the films and I of course love Charles Soule so I don't really have a good excuse for never having read this up until now but hey better late than never! And as is to be expected from Soule... Poe Dameron is really good!

Only feels right to start out by talking about Poe himself. Soule absolutely nails his characterization from the films in both mannerisms and badassery. You really get a good idea in this comic of just why Poe has the reputation he does as the "best pilot in the Resistance" as some of the feats he pulls off in this comic are downright Anakin Skywalker-levels of insanity. Most importantly though is his leadership. Leia clearly knows her time as a leader is limited and is grooming Poe to be her successor and I feel the comic gives you everything you need to know about Poe to understand why he will one day be the Resistance general as my favorite moments in this series by far were the moments when he takes the time to uplift those around him. Poe's speech about how all of us are luminous and never really gone is possibly some of the most beautiful stuff I've read in comics. Genuinely I wish Lucasfilm would grab Oscar Isaac just to act out this scene because way more people need to see it. Soule took an already great character and elevated him to the next level. While I wouldn't put Poe on the same level as Soule's work with Vader, Luke, Kylo, etc. this is still absolutely fantastic.

And Black Squadron as a whole is just so fun. I loved getting to know all these characters deeper and just spend time with them bantering, felt very reminiscent of some of my favorite stuff from the EU X-wing books. I was already familiar with Snap Wexley in particular from the Aftermath trilogy and that combined with this comic means having to watch him go down during the Battle of Exegol next time I watch Episode 9 is gonna be....real tough.

Terex was a truly great villain. It was very interesting to see a former and loyal Imperial working with the First Order, trying to bring his own version of order back to the galaxy though being constantly frustrated since the First Order is not the Empire. His back and forths with Poe were always fun and I especially enjoyed learning about his past with the Ranc Gang after the fall of the Empire. I know this wasn't intentional since this comic released before Episode 9 but I thought Terex's criminal identity actually makes him a very nice parallel with Poe given his background with the Kijimi Spice Runners. The comic actually leaves Terex's fate fairly open-ended so hopefully he'll pop up again at some point. I think he'd make for a very interesting wild card to deal with in the post-sequel era.

For a couple other character notes: Really loved C-3P0 in this. The movies don't really give Threepio enough credit but Soule always does between Poe Dameron and Star Wars (2020). Poe really makes Threepio feel like the backbone of the entire Resistance with how many times his network of droid spies (whoops... operatives) comes in handy. I also really enjoyed Leia in this comic which I was pleasantly surprised with since Leia is admittedly one of the few characters that I think Soule has had some issues nailing his in other works but here she was great! Her dynamic with Poe was beautiful and I loved seeing her get to put the scoundrel techniques she's learned from Han and Lando to good use for the Resistance with Leia even putting together quite a nice heist at one point.

As far as world-building, I'd honestly put this comic up there with Claudia Gray's Bloodline as an essential lead-in to the sequel era. You get a lot more context surrounding this cold war that the Resistance and First Order are engaged in with both seeking the other's destruction but neither willing to act publicly to avoid drawing the ire of the New Republic. Really hope we get some more stories set in this era to further expand on this.

I also loved the connections to other lore throughout the series. Getting Grakkus back from Star Wars (2015) was a nice surprise, I liked the race he forced Poe and Terex to engage in. And also.... MISTER BONES!!! My beloved, one of my favorites from the Aftermath trilogy! Unfortunately I did have his appearance in here spoiled a long time ago but man it was nice to get him back even for just a few pages. He'll always have a place in my heart delightfully dance-murdering his way through an endless swarm of foes.

As far as criticisms I really don't have many but as far as they go:

I didn't really care for Malarus as a villain. She kinda just came off as cartoonishly evil without the depth of Terex. Which hey it's the First Order, you could argue that cartoonishly evil is borderline part of the job description, but she just didn't vibe with me. I felt that most of the time spent on her honestly would've been better utilized further developing Terex.

And this other thing is more of a nitpick and not even really this comic's fault but it is a shame it came out before Episode 9 because there are some details that just don't really jive well with that movie. Obviously Poe's spice runner backstory didn't exist yet but there are other things as well. For instance Poe has clearly seen flying stormtroopers before which makes the "they fly now!?" line feel pretty weird. Also there's a point in this comic where Threepio's memories get destroyed but then backed up very casually. Can't help but feel that it kinda lessens the impact of Threepio's sacrifice in Episode 9 if they've already backed him up repeatedly before, there really should've been no dilemma whatsoever having him translate that Sith text based on this. Again not the comic's fault, just a shame that Episode 9 didn't take some of this into account.

Overall though a very well-done comic. And at last my Charles Soule Star Wars collection is complete. I'd give Poe Dameron a solid 8/10.

Source: Poe Dameron #2

Just started reading through Poe Dameron for the very first time, think this is my favorite moment in the first arc. This pilot's got better stuff to do apparently, lol.

As you can see George Mann gave us an.... interesting method of dropping some lore in this issue. This issue tells the story of the comms engineers responsible for the murders throughout this series and how they were driven insane by the amount of information they had to sift through from their section of the galaxy. Some of that information they're bombarded with should be of particular interest to those familiar with High Republic lore. For just a few things I noticed.

1. "A gift given freely." Seems Marda Ro is still out and about recruiting for the Path at this point as the group slowly transforms into what eventually becomes the Nihil.

2. I believe there are three separate references to the Greylarks and something they've done recently. Unfortunately 20 years after Phase 2, Axel still might not be behaving himself.

3. Multiple calls to Barnabas Vim probably from his Padawan Vix.

4. People looking for Planet X.

Even though this story isn't very directly connected to the main High Republic initiative, I like that we're getting these little nods, makes the world feel connected. For anyone who hasn't gotten into this comic, I highly recommend doing so, it's been some of the best for Star Wars comics lately.

Also Vincenzo Riccardi is doing the artwork for these last two issues and he is absolutely amazing, gotta shout him out.

For those unaware the Bad Batch do actually play a role in Zero Company although they never directly appear. I actually made a previous post going into the context which I'll link right here: https://www.reddit.com/r/thebadbatch/s/Wg3ROIChet

Long story short, the Batch helped out Trick with his inhibitor chip on Ord Mantell and even lent him one of their spare commando kits because they're just swell. Trick probably spent a decent amount of time on Ord Mantell with the Batch recovering from surgery and I like to think Omega used this opportunity to up her gaming skills. Trick's namesake is based on card tricks as he is a very skilled player himself. I could see Omega asking him about this and immediately sitting him down at the holochess table wanting a real challenge after she's learned how to destroy the rest of the Batch at every game they play (other than maybe Tech, I would guess he is probably always a challenge.) I bet Trick got absolutely humbled and went running back to Zero Company to play against people he can beat, lol.

It's genuinely kinda hilarious to me that Cly is the one canon operator that the game gives you the option to hire or not. Like even before I knew how strong she was gameplay-wise, in what world am I saying no to a Mandalorian trying to join my crew lmao.

It's like everyone forgets Ultron's original programming (though the healing is nice too)

Sorry Maul, you're just not that important of a nemesis by comparison 🤷

This is from the new Mandalorian and Grogu podcast discussing the film. Per Favreau here, we are ten years into the gap between Episodes 6 and 7 meaning that 5 years have passed between The Mandalorian season 1 and the movie. Up till now it's been pretty difficult to work out how much time has actually gone by in this storyline so it's nice to finally have this clarification.

This is from the new Mandalorian and Grogu podcast discussing the film. Per Favreau here, we are ten years into the gap between Episodes 6 and 7 meaning that 5 years have passed between The Mandalorian season 1 and the movie. Up till now it's been pretty difficult to work out how much time has actually gone by in this storyline so it's nice to finally have this clarification.

Watched the Lego Mandalorian special (it was fun!) and was hoping to check out the podcast next but doesn't seem to be on the platform for me yet. Searched up "Mandalorian podcast" and even checked the extras tab for the movie and it's not showing up anywhere. Has anyone found it and if so, where?

Took forever to get these pics (unfortunately Zero Company doesn't have a dedicated photo mode so it was challenging to angle both Hawks and Rex just right) but it was worth it, got to fulfill my childhood dream of aura-farming with the Republic's best!

And his mission was easily my favorite in the game so far. Rex's resistance movement goes way beyond what we saw in The Bad Batch with his clone insurgents even teaming up with the Umbarans, really nice growth for Rex to see him realize that the Umbarans were never their true enemy despite what happens in TCW. Overall this whole section just felt like a beautiful love letter to both The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch with how it continues the overall clone storyline. Hope we get a resolution for what happens to Rex's group eventually.

Also Rex and Hawks got to bond over hating Pong Krell which is funny.

Took forever to get these pics (unfortunately Zero Company doesn't have a dedicated photo mode so it was challenging to angle both Hawks and Rex just right) but it was worth it, got to fulfill my childhood dream of aura-farming with the Republic's best!

And his mission was easily my favorite in the game so far. Rex's resistance movement goes way beyond what we saw in The Bad Batch with his clone insurgents even teaming up with the Umbarans, really nice growth for Rex to see him realize that the Umbarans were never their true enemy despite what happens in TCW. Overall this whole section just felt like a beautiful love letter to both The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch with how it continues the overall clone storyline. Hope we get a resolution for what happens to Rex's group eventually.

Also Rex and Hawks got to bond over hating Pong Krell which is funny.

Some context for those who haven't or won't play the game: Trick, Zero Company's resident clone, turned on the rest of the team during Order 66 and a year later is comatose since we had to take him down a bit hard. Rex reaches out to Zero Company looking for help on an Umbara mission (very nice detail in its own right which shows Rex has realized the Umbarans were never his enemy, despite the trauma he and the 501st endured there) and he sends Trick to have his chip removed by "friends on Ord Mantell." I think we should all know who those friends are. I guess the Batch were still helping Rex out outside of what's seen in the show.

[supprimé]

We of course already knew from trailers that Anakin was a guest star for one mission but I was pleasantly surprised he actually hangs out at base for a little bit too where you can talk with him. Interestingly enough he was a bit annoyed when Hawks made a joke about Tel-Rea having two lightsabers. Guess Ahsoka is still a pretty fresh wound at this point.